Dale Bumpers: “I also wanted to discuss another matter of significance. We are going to technically have a budget surplus this year.…”

“I also wanted to discuss another matter of significance. We are going to technically have a budget surplus this year. Nobody knows how much it will be. The CBO has estimated the surplus will be somewhere between $50 and $63 billion. They have projected $1.4 trillion in surpluses over the next 10 years. We need to keep in mind that estimates are just that--estimates. When you consider the fact in the last 60 days, $1.9 trillion has been lost on the stock exchanges of this country, you tell me how you would evaluate that study that was made about 4 months ago that we are going to have a $1.4 trillion surplus over the next 10 years. The surplus may hold up this year and we may get a surplus next year, because an awful lot of people are bailing out of the market. But when we talk about a surplus, it has been said time and time and time again on the floor of this Senate, it is not really a surplus. I don't know why in the name of God we keep calling it a surplus when it isn't. But for the sake of argument, because this is the way we do it here, let's assume we will have a $50 to $63 billion surplus this year. But let me add this caveat: $100 billion of that is the excess in the Social Security Trust Fund. You take the Social Security excess out and we will have a $40 to $50 billion deficit.”